The music of the era is charged with national pride, exploration, world influences, and internationality that I adore. Despite hyper competitiveness amongst the nations, talent was encouraged to travel to enhance the name of the fatherlands and inevitably cultures clashed in the form of unparalleled experimentation. It was the time of Neitzsche and Marx and Mill in philosophy and ideology made a huge impact on musical composition. Instrumentation also moved out of religious traditions and harpsichord, organs, and tabernacles were replaced with percussion, brass, and wind instruments that upheld military and international motifs better. Arias and hymns were replaced with turbulent choral shouts and hedonistic story lines. Music became modern and the world changed.

1. De Falla - Magic Of Love Introduction & Scene
2. Dvorak - Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Op.95, From the “New World” - Allegro con fuoco
3. Gliere - The Red Poppy, Ballet Suite, Op. 70 - Heroic Coolie Dance
4. Grieg - Peer Gynt Suite No.1 Op.46 Anistras Dance
5. Kodaly - Duo for Violin and Cello, Op.7 - Allegro serioso, non troppo (Recorded in Japan 1978)
6. Lizst - Czardas
7. Shostakovich - Symphony No.10 in E Minor, Opus 93 - II. Allegro
8. Strauss - Persian March, Op. 289
9. Stravinsky - The Firebird Suite - Infernal Dance
10. Verdi - Overture The Force Of Destiny

But enough about the singer and on to the songs. There’s a general 80s feel to the whole album, especially in the synth heavy songs “Dusk Till Dawn” and “Crazy World.” If a modern Breakfast Club were released today Ladyhawke would definitely be one of the soundtrack leaders and that would be perfectly fine with me. Mixed in with the 80s is a bit of 90s grunginess in songs like “Professional Suicide” that almost reminds me of early No Doubt. For the most part the album is electro rock and synth pop with powerful femme vocals that stands out easily as one of the best albums of 2008. In it’s apparent retroness there’s enough modern style to make it not just a New Wave copy, but something new and fantastic. Ladyhawke has definitely succeeded in her goal for the album, to make any listener feel nostalgia, and it just does overwhelmingly. Enjoy.

1. Ladyhawke - Another Runaway
2. Ladyhawke - Back of the Van
3. Ladyhawke - Better Than Sunday
4. Ladyhawke - Crazy World
5. Ladyhawke - Dusk Till Dawn
6. Ladyhawke - Magic
7. Ladyhawke - Morning Dreams
8. Ladyhawke - My Delirium
9. Ladyhawke - Paris is Burning
10. PNAU - Embrace ft. Ladyhawke

Release in 2007 and the second operatic piece written by Golijov, the album is separated into three parts. The bulk of the album is Oceana, an operatic piece styled after Bach and performed by the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and vocals by Luciana Souza. The piece is both classical and profoundly Latin and Jazz sounding. The opera is brilliantly accessible with non-traditional operatic instrumentation including guitars, drums, and a large portion of Latin wood instruments including rainsticks, marracas, and clap sticks, in addition to the standard orchestration. The vocals empower the emotionally laden music drawing the listener deep into the turbulent story and rhythm. Playful winds contrast the robust choral performances filling the sound with life like few other modern works. Stunning solo performances by Souza further the melancholy attitude of the first call and then turn around abruptly wit the classical guitar driven second call that has a playful exuberance of a Brazilian Bossa club. The aria’s guitar instrumentation lends itself to a film-score like sound that would rivalry and mystery or thriller’s soundtrack.

The rest of the album is split up between the Three Songs and Tenebrae which on their own would make an excellent album. Deep writing emotions in the music are brilliant and so powerful that even just listening will move you. The attitude of the Three Songs and Tenebrae is profoundly depressed accomplished with significant use of string instrumentation. As stand alone pieces they rivalry any modern classical music and are a testament to the brilliance of Golijov.

Below is a selection from the album and I recommend picking up the album for yourself along with Golijov’s numerous other works. I am a fan of Ainadamar and Ayre but would recommend any of his albums. Enjoy.

1. Osvaldo Golijov - Oceana - Call
2. Osvaldo Golijov - Oceana - First Wave
3. Osvaldo Golijov - Oceana - Second Call
4. Osvaldo Golijov - Oceana - Second Wave
5. Osvaldo Golijov - Oceana - Third Wave
6. Osvaldo Golijov - Tenebrae I
7. Osvaldo Golijov - Tenebrae II
8. Osvaldo Golijov - Three Songs - How Slow The Wind
9. Osvaldo Golijov - Three Songs - Lua Descolorida
10. Osvaldo Golijov - Three Songs - Night of the Flying Horses - Doina- Gallop

I’d like to tell you about an album that I picked up last month that totally blew my socks off. Australian hip hop, dub, funk, jazz, indie rock, and soul artist Katalyst released What’s Happening back in 2007 and it’s one of the best albums I’ve ever heard. I’ve never heard a single artist with a sound as versatile or inspired in modern forms of music. Each song seems to pull influences and sounds from different music fields and blend it all together to make a solid album of astoundingly good quality. Recently there’s been a rash of amazing artists from Australia in the indie electro rock genres but Katalyst is showing me again that hip hop isn’t dead, that there are still hip hop artists with a real connection with the roots of the music, and sadly it isn’t an American again.

As I mentioned almost every song on the album has its own style and sound. “Loaded Gun” sounds like it came straight off last year’s Modern Guilt album from Beck with a Southern Indie Acoustic melody and monotone vocals. “I Know a Place” reminds me of the soulful funk rhythms of Mark Ronson. “Step Up” manages to work its way right into my heart for old school Hip Hop. Perhaps it’s the great lyrics full of political and social motivation, but it’s more likely the guitar riff from Jesus Christ Superstar. The song rocks and that’s all there is to it. “Over and Over” brings a renewed dub/reggae style and “How Bout Us” is classic 70s soul.

To call Katalyst a hip hop artist would be a travesty when he’s so much more than that. Amongst similar artists of which there are few (mainly Danger Mouse and Mark Ronson, kind of) none have come close to the versatility and complete vision on a single album. Alone, none of the songs on the album stand out as the best hip hop or soul or rock song I’ve heard, but together in a single album by a single artist the blend is a prime example of cross genre musical mastery.

Okay it’s been more than a few days, more like a month and a half but I got the music for you. Enjoy.

1. Katalyst - Bladewalker

2. Katalyst - How Bout Us

3. Katalyst - I Know A Place

4. Katalyst - Killing Ya Self

5. Katalyst - Loaded Gun

6. Katalyst - May Have Been James Brown

7. Katalyst - Over and Over

8. Katalyst - Say What You Feel

9. Katalyst - Step Up

10. Katalyst - War

Today’s selection of trip hop comes from the notable Japanese hip hop artists Tsutchie, Nujabes, Fat Jon, and Force of Nature, which collaborated to develop the trip hop sounds of Samurai Champloo. I tend to dislike anime music since most shows rely heavily on jPop or jRock artists with little regard for melody and the most awful lyrics imaginable. Most notable for being stupendous though are the works of Yoko Kanno, especially in the shows Cowboy Bebop and Turn A Gundam, the Pillows for the show FLCL, the RZA for Afro Samurai, and of course the music of Samurai Champloo. Each episode features six original songs culminating in the release of six albums after the series’ completion and as a score I would have to recommend it as one of the best. Each of the artists brought elements of their own style to the album and the only thing I could have asked for would be a few more hip hop styled songs since the albums tend to be more on the jazzy side of trip hop. Either way, take a listen and tell me this isn’t one of the best scores ever. Enjoy.

1. Force of Nature, Nujabes, Fat Jon - Death Wish
2. Force of Nature, Nujabes, Fat Jon - Sanctuary Ship
3. Force of Nature, Tsutchie - Death Chamber
4. Force of Nature, Tsutchie - Judgement On
5. Force of Nature, Tsutchie - Pretending to…
6. Force of Nature, Tsutchie - Sincerely
7. Nujabes, Fat Jon - Aruarian Dance
8. Nujabes, Fat Jon - Mystline
9. Tsutchie - Flip
10. Tsutchie - Thank You

Of the two major styles of blues, I tend to prefer the more downtempo “coffee shop” variety that focuses on an acoustic sound with only minor accompaniment if any at all. Piano or acoustic guitar led blues is by far my favourite and I tend to focus more on lyrics with these less stand out instruments. I also thoroughly enjoy blues jazz perfect since it’s popular with female blues singers. What I can’t say I’m much of a fan of is the more upbeat electric guitar and full band blues style of legendary BB King and Eric Clapton, although a few of their songs are pretty good.

Today’s release includes a number of my favourite blues songs. My number one male vocal blues song is Staggolee featured on the Death Proof soundtrack, and my number one female vocal choice is Black Coffee followed very closely by the heavily jazz influenced River of Crystals. When it comes to classic blues Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, and T-Bone Walker have it covered and there’s nothing bad I can say about any of their songs. Most surprising for most on this collection is Dick Dale and Frank Zappa, both musicians that I love primarily for their electric guitar skills that temporarily left their regular styles to pay homage to one of the most fundamental building blocks of all rock music, Blues. Soulwax, the indie electro rock band from Ghent said that in order to be a great DJ, you have to be good at playing punk music first. And I add to that that in order to be a great punker you’ve gotta know your blues. Blues is where it all started and that’s all there is to it. Enjoy.

1. Buddy Guy - First Time I Met the Blues
2. Dick Dale - Front Porch Blues
3. Frank Zappa - Merely A Blues in A
4. Howlin Wolf - Back Door Man
5. Kimiko Itoh - River of Crystals
6. Muddy Waters - Hoochie Coochie Man
7. Otis Spann - What Will Become of Me (Lost Sleep in the Fold)
8. Pacific Gas & Electric - Staggolee
9. Patricia Kaas - Black Coffee
10. T-Bone Walker - Stormy Monday

And without further a do is the release for this Friday. I’ve collected quite a bit of music from the big names in the indietronic world and the big omission that I just didn’t have room for is Hot Chip, a band that has a few stellar songs but for the most part are over rated in my books although not as overrated as TV on the Radio. Bloc Party primarily is the big label brand that somehow got mixed up with the indie movement even though they’re signed with UMG and they’re sound is the quintessential form of indie rock pop, but there are some great remixes from DFA1979 and the Villains and I have one here for you. Of course, Britney Spears belongs in last Friday’s release, but this remix by master Felix Cartal is so good that no mainstream listener would like it. Cardinal Sound is another follower of the emo gone indie movement with a nice electro sound and classic emo vocals. Finally the inclusion of the biggest indietronic names - Ladyhawke, Shiny Toy Guns, Cut Copy, the Faint, and Chromeo - are the back bone of tonight’s gripe. Enjoy.

1. Bloc Party - Hunting for Witches (Villains ElectroBanger Remix)
2. Boys Noize - Arcade Robot
3. Britney Spears - Outrageous (Felix Cartal Remix)
4. Cardinal Sound - Least We Could Do
5. Chromeo - Bonafied Loving (Eli Escobar Remix)
6. Cut Copy - Going Nowhere (Sebastian Remix)
7. Digitalism - Pogo (Blake Miller Remix)
8. Faint - Geeks Were Right
9. PNAU - Embrace ft. Ladyhawke
10. Shiny Toy Guns - Le Disko

Describing DFA1979’s music is a tricky thing to do at first being labeled metal would be incorrect and being labeled electronic would equally be wrong. Their sound is best described as electronic melodies with metal methods and garage post processing. But with all the mumbo jumbo it really is just about sounding good and DFA 1979 sounds great. Unfortunatly Death From Above 1979 only produced one full length album, You’re A Woman, I’m a Machine, a remix album, Romance Bloody Romance, three EPs, with the last record produced in 2005. For a short run, the band had a large influence of rock and electronic artists to come and were amongst the pioneers crossing the rock electro genre. Following the dissolution of the band due to differences in opinion regarding the direction of the band the two genres uncrossed, with member Sebastien Grainger going solo with a more rock sound on his LP Sebastien Grainger and the Mountains and collaborating with French artist Data for the amazing Rapture EP, and Jesse Keeler forming the now more successful than DFA1979 MSTRKRFT which is one of the top remix artists today and solo work as JFK.

The selection of DFA1979 in the release is primarily from their studio album You’re A Woman, I’m a Machine. Enjoy.

1. Death From Above 1979 - Better Off Dead [Le Peste Cover]
2. Death From Above 1979 - Black History Month
3. Death From Above 1979 - Blood On Our Hands
4. Death From Above 1979 - Cold War
5. Death From Above 1979 - Go Home Get Down
6. Death From Above 1979 - Going Steady
7. Death From Above 1979 - Little Girl
8. Death From Above 1979 - Romantic Rights
9. Death From Above 1979 - Sexy Results
10. Death From Above 1979 - You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine

The biggest reason I don’t like mainstream music isn’t because of the music, although that is a major part. It’s the people: the artists, the fans, and the labels. What’s wrong with the artists is their lack of spirit and soul. Most don’t write their own music, many don’t sing well or play instruments, some can’t dance, and a few aren’t even good looking. That’s a pretty tall list of short comings for a pop star. Even with a great voice and beautiful body a singer needs words that aren’t rubbish and more importantly a background that entertains and gets the juices flowing. My two votes for worst song of all time not surprisingly are both modern pop songs “If U Seek Amy” by Britney Spears and “Live Your Life” by TI and Rihanna. The first uses grammatical retardation to sound like FUCK, but it comes across like a 6th grader that just learned a new naughty word and I would have thought you couldn’t sell a CD which made you look like a retard out of shame but apparently it can be done and can even be a comeback. The latter is a song about the principles of old school hip-hop or at least a new school redefinition set to the NSync of Romania, O-Zone. What would Quincy Jones think or Dr. Dre for that matter?

What gets me the most of the whole mainstream deal is the fans. It appears to me that many people, whether they listen to pop as old as the Beatles, Barbara Streisand, Rick Astley, Mariah Carey, Kanye West, or Britney Spears have no appreciation for music outside of the era of pop music they like, worst of all being current pop music. It would be okay to say I love pop music and listen to the #1 on the Top 100 Billboards from the 50s till today (I do that and enjoy a lot of it), but most current pop fans listen to no more than 15 artists (total) that are highly publicized and sculpted into a strange world of celebrity idolatry. I feel like modern pop fans have no concept that there is other music out there that is possibly good or better than what they are forced to listen to by the radio, magazines, and television. I had an argument with my friend that ideas have intrinsic power (he argued that ideas are powerless) but the labels are very strict in destroying the idea that there is better music out there out of their control and it seems to be working and turning the pop audience into celeb gossip feeding zombies. If people stopped listening one day to Britney Spears and instead picked up Patti LaBelle or Debbie Harry I’d probably just die because I’d be living in a world devoid of a need for someone like me.

But I want to reiterate that not all pop is bad and much of it can actually be nice to listen to once in a while after you remove the celebrity scandals, fans with no idea what they are listening to, and drink a couple beers. What I especially like after listening to far too many canned pop songs and remixes at sub standard bar/clubs in San Luis Obispo are fresh new takes on the same songs I and everyone else has heard a million times. Just as a I love a good remix or cover for a great song, I love a good remix or cover of a bad song and the fight to make it better is even easier.

I’ve selected then some of my favourite new pop songs that have been redone well, some songs I hate that sound much better, and some songs that are famous that I don’t really know at all that but I have remixed versions that sound amazing. Data’s “Rapture Part II” is an amazing mainstreamized version of a more indie tronic sounding song and somehow it still sounds great. Fergie’s “Glamorous” I legitamately like and I like this remix just as much. And the Britney Spears song “Gimme More” has always been one of my most despised of her songs and somehow is tolerable to dance to after Barlett’s remix. Enjoy the mainstream beat this week.

And lest I forget this weekend in the Bay we’ve got two major parties going on! Blow Up is hosting their Valentine’s Day Massacre tonight Friday the 13th. And on Valentine’s for all you lovers of Mashup is the Bootie SF Valentine’s Party at the DNA Lounge. If you can’t make this week they always play every 2nd and 4th Saturday so check it out. And in LA Friday are the Eye Candy Twins at Foxtail followed tomorrow by Jet Set Society at the Standard Purple Lounge.

1. Ashlee Simpson - LOVE (Felix Cartal Remix)
2. Britney Spears - Gimme More (DJ Barlett Remix)
3. Data - Rapture Part II
4. Erykah Badu - Honey (Captain Planet Remix)
5. Fergie - Glamorous (Treasure Fingers Remix)
6. Flo Rida - Get Low (GT Remix)
7. Jay Z - 99 Problems (Tenderloins Remix)
8. Lady Gaga - Just Dance (Wild Things Remix)
9. Rihanna - Don’t Stop the Music (LAZRtag Club Mix)
10. Sebastian - HAL

Peaches writes and performs all the instrumentation for her albums and in the past few years has recruited help from many well known musicians, especially for her tours. In 2006, her touring band was entitled the Herms and in 2007 a new band was entitled the Sweet Machine. Peaches retains a definite style and in her earlier albums heavy hip-hop bass lines constituted much of the background melodies to her songs. Her last two albums, Fatherfucker and Impeach my Bush, relied heavily on late 1970s punk rock sounds garnering her a reputation as a rocker equally as an electronic musician.

Of her three albums I have heard I admit I am a major fan of the overt sexuality and political nature of the lyrics. I consider Peaches to be the second most “dirty” musician only out done by Uffie and followed loosely by Louis XIV. Fatherfucker is my favourite album of hers and is well worth tracking down at your local record store. Her new album I Feel Cream is slated for release later this year and I’m looking forward to it.

1. Peaches - Bag It
2. Peaches - Do Ya
3. Peaches - Fuck the Pain Away
4. Peaches - Hit it Hard
5. Peaches - Hot Rod
6. Peaches - The Inch
7. Peaches - Rock N Roll
8. Peaches - Stick it to the Pimp
9. Peaches - Sucker
10. Peaches - Tent in your Pants